Kunal Nayyar

Kunal Nayyar (, ; born 30 April 1981) is an Indian-British actor. He gained recognition with his portrayal of the character Raj Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019), and voiced Vijay on the Nickelodeon animated sitcom Sanjay and Craig (2013–2016). He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards for his role in Criminal: UK.

Forbes listed him as the world's third-highest-paid television actor in 2015 and 2018, with earnings of US$20 million and US$23.5 million, respectively. His current net worth is estimated to be $45 million.

Early life
Nayyar was born on 30 April 1981 in Hammersmith, London, to a family of Indian Punjabi immigrants. When he was three years old, his family returned to India and he grew up in New Delhi, where his parents live. He attended St. Columba's School, where he played badminton for the school team.

In 1999, Nayyar moved to the United States to pursue a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Portland in Oregon. He started taking acting classes and appeared in several school plays while working on his degree.

After participating in the American College Theater Festival, Nayyar decided to become an actor. He then attended Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he received a Master of Fine Arts in acting.

Career
After graduating, Nayyar found work doing American television ads and plays on the London stage. He first gained attention in the US for his role in the West Coast production of Rajiv Joseph's 2006 play Huck & Holden, where he portrayed an Indian exchange student anxious to experience American culture before returning home. In 2006, Nayyar teamed up with Arun Das to write the play Cotton Candy, which premiered in New Delhi to positive reviews.

Nayyar made a guest appearance on the CBS drama NCIS in the season four episode "Suspicion", in which he played Youssef Zidan, an Iraqi terrorist.

In 2007, Nayyar's agent heard about a role for a scientist in an upcoming CBS pilot and encouraged him to audition for the part. This led to his casting in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, where he played the role of an astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali from its premiere in September of that year to the show's conclusion in May 2019.

In 2011, he co-hosted the Tribute to Nerds show with co-star Simon Helberg at the comedy festival Just for Laughs.

Nayyar voiced Gupta in Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012. During the same year, he completed the shooting of the film, Dr. Cabbie, produced by Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

In 2013, he produced a documentary called Beyond All Boundaries, which focused on three individuals and their love for cricket in India: Sudhir bikes across the country to support his team; Prithvi is a young cricket prodigy; and Akshaya is a female cricketer coming from the Mumbai slums.

From 5 May to 29 June 2015, Nayyar performed in an off-Broadway production, The Spoils, written by and starring actor Jesse Eisenberg. Nayyar played Kalyan, a Nepalese student and roommate of the protagonist Ben, played by Eisenberg. The production transferred to London's West End in 2016.

Nayyar published a book about his career journey, titled Yes, My Accent is Real: and Some Other Things I Haven’t Told You, in September 2015.

He voiced another animated movie character named Guy Diamond in DreamWorks' Trolls, released in November 2016.

In 2020, Nayyar played a convicted serial killer named Sandeep on the Netflix UK production Criminal: UK. He appeared in the final episode of Season 2, which was released in August 2020. In the same year, he joined the cast of the thriller TV series Suspicion on Apple TV+, based on the Israeli thriller TV series False Flag, alongside Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Henstridge and Elyes Gabel.

In 2021, he was announced as having been picked to play the title role of A. J. Fikry in the upcoming comedy-drama The Storied Life Of A. J. Fikry, alongside Lucy Hale and Christina Hendricks, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Gabrielle Zevin.

In 2024, Nayyar reunited with Big Bang Theory costar, Melissa Rauch, making a guest appearance on an episode of Night Court. Night Court is a reboot of the 80s NBC sitcom of the same name. Rauch plays Judge Abby Stone in the sitcom.

Personal life
In December 2011, Nayyar married Neha Kapur, a model and Femina Miss India 2006. According to the University of Portland, Nayyar and his wife have given scholarships for University of Portland students in Performing & Fine Arts and paid for guest artists at the university.